Beautiful?

What makes a picture beautiful, the subject matter, the colors, contrast, lighting, or a hundred other minute things that don't even stand out on their own but when combined all seem to work together? I think that photos, especially quality photos, have the ability to capture a moment in time, to freeze it, and make you feel like you are there. Take this photo for example. It was taken on a cool spring day, when every branch on every tree seemed to have exploded in color. The world could walk by and only take partial notice in the extreme beauty of that minute, but in a photo, we get to keep it, share it, love it time and time again. We get to make it ours, in our memory, in our hearts. Maybe, just for a fleeting moment, we are there, with the photographer, maybe again, or for the first time, we can feel something. That is what makes a good photo, a great photo. That is what makes it Beautiful.